1. Field of the invention
The invention relates to a midsole element to be mounted separately on the heel portion and/or the forefoot portion of a shoe. This midsole element can also be provided for shoe repair services.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shoe soles having resilient properties are well known from prior art. In particular sport shoes are known to comprise air or gel cushions as shock absorption elements. Said elements provide good shock absorption, but the lack of guidance in terms of anatomical positions such as for example pronation or subpronation. Furthermore the limitation of the maximum degree of compensation is provided by the properties of the shock absorption elements, which can cause an uncontrollable compression leading to instable positions.
Further resilient elements or shock absorption elements are, for example, known from WO 2003/103430. This publication shows a plurality of concepts for providing a shoe sole with resilient properties. With such soles it is possible to compensate lateral anatomic position as named above.
The known soles provide good compensation around a longitudinal axis which extends in direction along the longitudinal direction of the foot from heel to toes. However, it is a drawback that the compensation is not guided and that the degree of the compensation is not very well adjustable.
Additionally the compensation around a lateral axis seems to be based on random and is also not very well guided.
WO 2007/030818 discloses a shoe, comprising an assembly of a shoe upper and a sole unit for supporting a foot, wherein the assembly defines a foot compartment and orients a foot in a specific desired angle for the alignment of the lower leg, to effect three areas of the foot anatomically.
EP 1 857 006 discloses a footwear sole, having a plurality of stud clusters, oriented in accordance with the predetermined direction of cross shear motion of the stud cluster, and each stud cluster is dimensioned in accordance with the distribution of forces applied to the sole during ground contact.
Furthermore, prior art as EP 1 880 626 discloses a shoe with a sole, to allow pivoting of the foot around a horizontally oriented axis, transverse to the longitudinal main direction of the foot.
DE 20 2006 007725 U1 discloses a shoe having an insole and an outsole, wherein the insole can be replaced. The insole of a shoe according to this document is less rigid than the outsole to enable a rolling movement of the feet of a user. This rolling movement is supported by the more rigid outsole which is thicker in the middle portion of the shoe.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,213 discloses a shoe having a rigid insole being in its middle portion with part of the sole touching the ground and having a resilient auxiliary outsole member provided within a front and a back portion. The thickness of both the rigid insole and the resilient outsole, as shown in a side view, are the same over the whole width of the shoe with the aim to support a front-to-back rolling movement of the shoe to accomplish a more effective weight distribution of the user's weight during running.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,821 for Daswick discloses a midsole for a shoe, consisting of a core formed from a stiff plastic material with limited resilience and a separately molded or cast resilient ground-engaging member formed from a highly resilient rubber material. This rubber material can be easily compressed to half of its original thickness. A central pedestal is formed within the core material over the entire breadth of the midsole. The ground-engaging member comprises a heel portion with increased thickness, whereas the core portion is uniformly flat at the heel. The highly resilient ground-engaging member is always provided separately below the core portion.
US 2006/0156581 for Holden et al. provides a two-part midsole comprising an inlay for a sole to enhance protection against landing impact. The two-part midsole comprises a resilient shock absorbing midsole body wherein the midsole body comprises an opening in the heel area and below the forefoot to accommodate an elastomeric pad, having improved shock absorbing properties, in each opening. The pads are intended to improve the function of the surrounding material and are of equivalent resilient nature.
Accordingly, Daswick teaches a midsole having a harder central pedestal provided over the entire breadth of a midsole and having a resilient material only underneath the harder core portion and Holden teaches the concept of an inlay only intended to improve the resilient nature of the surrounding midsole material for midsole elements. The art of record fails to teach a midsole element that applies the principle of pivoting instable movement to a shoe, especially in the heel and/or forefoot area.